Cathode feed



1959 i s. J. GARTNER 2,911,114

CATHODE FEED Filed May 23, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG-l IN VEN TOR.

IO y A I B c I 0 l E F I STANLEY J.GARTNER CATHODE SLEEVE FEED MICA FEEDNov. 3, 1959 5. J. GARTNER CATHODE FEED Filed May 25, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG-3 I22 I 4 O8 INVENTOR STANLEY J. GARTNER ATTORNE s.J. GARTNER Nov. 3, 1959 CATHODE FEED 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 25, 1957FIG-5 INVENTOR STANLEY J. GARTNER BY I I ATTORNi Y? S. J. GARTN ER Nov.3,. 195

CATHODE FEED 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed y 23, 1957 INVENTOR NLEY J. GARTNERW ATTOR I NEY CATHODE FEED Stanley Jacob Gartner, Emporium, Pin,assignor, by mesne assignments, to Sylvania Electric Products Inc.,Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application May 23, 1957,Serial No. 661,097 I 3 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) The invention relates tomeans for feeding individual cathode sleeves from an operator loadedmagazine to its proper position in an insulating spacer as part of theassembly of an electron tube.

An object of the invention is to provide mechanism which shall becapable of rapid operation, with precision as to insertion of the sleevewithin the insulating spacer. It is a further object of the invention toprovide novel precision transfer mechanism particularly where thedelivery and receiving stations are at different elevations. Otherobjects will be apparent upon consideration of the specification.

The invention. is here exemplified as applied to the insertion of acathode sleeve in an insulator such as mica, both forming part of. aduotriode such as a type 6SN7 tube.

The invention will be understood by considering the followingspecification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the machine layout indicatingthe cathode sleeve feed station B particularly described and claimedherein.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of'the mechanism at the cathode sleeve feedstation with parts broken away in order to show operative portions ofthe machine. 7 V

Fig. 3 isan elevational view of the machine with parts broken away.

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the mechanism which engages the sleeveto transfer the sleeve from a magazine to the mica and means for guidingthe sleeve into place in the mica.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the mechanism of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is an elevation of some of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2 and Fig.9 is an enlarged view of a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 8taken at right angles to that figure.

Referring to the figures in greater detail, in Fig. 1 there isdiagrammatically illustrated a machine for automatically assemblingmounts at successive stations indicated as A, B, C, etc., the machinecomprising an endless carrier 10 having support blocks 12, see Figs. 3and 5 spaced therealong', which blocks are indexible to the variousstations. A block centering and holding device in the form of a pin 14at each station engages a recess in the back of the block as it is movedby the conveyor to a station'- td hold the same against a fixed abutmentblock 16 whiie'it' is at any of the stations. Since the matter justdescribed is not material to the understandingof the invention, exceptas" set forth, no further der The b1o'ckL'12' is providedtwith acircular flanged opendisclosure the micas could have been placed in therings, 'in proper-ly orientatedpos'ition, by hand;

am" m ce 2,911,114 Patented Nov. 3, 1959 At the cathode feed stationthere is a rotary disc type magazine 26 provided with flanged seats 28,see Fig. 5, for securely holding bushings 30' in tum securely seating anaxially perforated cathode sleeve holder 32. In a modified form ofholder shown in Fig. 3, the elements 30 and 32 are replaced by a singleholder 31. An operator. places cylindrical cathode sleeve 34 in theseholders. Surrounding the sleeves are integral beads 36, at least at thelower ends thereof, which serve to limit the downward motion of thesleeves in the holders as well as in the micas. The sleeves are coatedwith emissive material between the beads. The turret is indexed insynchronism with the indexing of the conveyor so that the propertransfer of sleeve from magazine to a prepared punched out hole, as 36,in mica 24 may be effected. Any conventional form of drive for theconveyor and turret may be employed, as a drive shaft common to the twoand driving two Geneva mechanisms or equivalent, one for indexing theconveyor and the other for indexing the magazine disc. In the case of atwin cathode structure, the following station C would feed a cathodesleeve to the companion hole 40.

To transfer a sleeve from a holder when in the indexed position to theappropriate hole in the mica, there is provided a pair of fingers 42 and44,. see Figs. 4 and 5, the finger 42 at its free end having a seat fora clamp jaw 46 pressed by a spring 48 toward the companion jaw 59, bothjaws being suitably configurated to fit about the top of cathode sleeve34yand above the bead 36. The finger 44 and jaw 50 are thin as shown inFig. 5 and when grasping a sleeve the jaw 50 partially enters ahorizontal slot in the jaw 46. The finger 44 is fixedly mounted in anarm 52in turn afiixed to a slide bar 54 slidable in a way in a transferhead 56 and urged by a spring 58 to move the jaw 50 to cathode sleeveengaging position, the spring, see Fig.7, reacting against the end of aslot in the bar 54 and an abutment block 6% fixed to the transfer head56. The finger 42 is fastened to a slide bar '62 also mounted in a wayin the head 56, this bar urging the jaw 46 to cathode sleeve engagingposition by means of a spring and block arrangement between a part ofthe head and-an abutment 78 on the I piston rod of the motor. Fluidpressure applied to the motor at an appropriate time and under controlof cam mechanism on the machine will force the wedge between the rollersand eifect opening of the jaws. The spring pressure applied to the jawsby springs 48, 53 and 64 is light enough to avoid distortion of thecathode sleeve.

Means are provided to move the head vertically to lift the sleeve out ofthe carrier in the magazine and to move the headdownwardly to place thesleeve in the hole 38 inthe m-ica'and also to shift the head laterallybetween the magazine and the mica stations. These means will nowbeqdesc'ribed.

The head 56, see Fig. 8. is adjustably mounted in an arm- 8d fixedlymounted on a vertical reciprocatable hollow shaft 82; and shaft 82 beingprovided with a fiat portion 84 to prevent rotation of the arm and topermit up and down adjustment of the arm 80 on the shaft.

To m ove the shaft vertically there is fixed thereto a colla-r 86connected by a universal joint 88 with an extensible" link iii in turnconnected by a universal joint 92 to abell crank lever 94 pivoted tothebase of the frame and having a cam follower 96 riding on the face ofa cam 98 fixedly mounted on a shaft 1%, see Fig. 2, driven from a maindrive shaft 101 of the machine by conventional gearing, not shown, andgeared by bevel gears to the counter drive shaft 102 and which isconnected to the turret magazine 26 to drive the same intermittently bya barrel cam shown in dotted outline. Within the hollow shaft 82 is astop rod 104 having a hand adjustment knob 166, the lower end of the rodcoming into engage.

ment with one of a pair of stops 198 or 110 as will be described,dependent on whether the sleeve grasping jaws are down above themagazine or down above the mica. The rod 104 at the upper end is screwthreaded into the shaft to facilitate vertical adjustment of the stoprod and therefore adjustment of the limit of downward motion of thejaws.

The entire assembly of transfer mechanism so far described isreciprocated laterally between mica and magazine stations by thefollowing mechanism: The shaft 82 is mounted for reciprocation in asleeve 112 integral with a planar vertical back 114 rising from anelongated horizontal shiftable elongated collar 116. The elongatedcollar is fixed on a shaft 120, see Fig. 3, slidable in bearings 122,124 fixed to the frame, each of the bearings being provided with anadjustable stop 126. Fixed to the lower end of hollow shaft 82, see Fig.9, is a guide arm 128 whose free end rides in a vertical guideway 130 inan enlargement 132 to the right of bearing 116, as viewed in Fig. 8, inorder to prevent rotational movement of the shaft, head 82, and sleevegrasping jaws about a vertical axis. To laterally shift the elongatedcollar and parts carried thereby, the back 1114 has fastened thereto adrive plate 134 to the lower end of which is connected an extensiblespring link 136 driven by a lever 138 mounted on a fixed shaft 140 andhaving a follower 142 riding in a cam groove 144 in a cam disc 146 fixedto shaft 162. At the upper end of back 114 there is provided a guideway148 embracing the upper end of a rail 150 fixed to a frame part 152. Thesliding of the shaft 120. in its bearings and the sliding of theguideway over the rail enforce the rectilinear translation of the sleeveengaging jaws between the magazine and the mica. Also looseness of partsis avoided, thereby assuring accurate handling of the sleeves.

The valve controlling cam, the cam 98 and the cam 146 are so positionedon their respective shafts and contoured to cause the jaws to properlypick up and transfer a sleeve from the magazine to the mica when themagazine and carrier blocks 12 for the mica have been properly indexed.

To further assist in locating the sleeve in the mica, a locatingmechanism is located above the mica in the indexed position thereof.This mechanism, see Figs. 4 and 5, comprises a pair of guide funnelfingers 160, 162 each provided at their ends with semiconical walls 164tapering downwardly and an opening 166 at the bottom of each of thewalls. These fingers approach the bottom clined tracks 182 on a cam bar184 so that as the cam bar is shifted to the left in Fig. 2, the funnelsections will spread apart. To move the bar 184, there is provided alink 186, see Fig. 3, connected by a bell crank lever 188 to a verticallink 190 extending downwardly to a cam operated lever 192 pivotedintermediate its ends to the frame and having a cam follower 194 ridingin a groove in the side of a cam disc 1%. To effect the oscillatory upand down movement of the funnel fingers, the slide 175 is fastened atits rear end, see Fig. 2, to an oscillatable shaft 194 mounted inbearings on top of the machine, said shaft being oscillated by a crankarm 196 fixed to the shaft 194 and having a cam follower at its free endriding on the periphery of cam disc 198 fixed on the main shaft 101 ofthe machine. A spring 200 normally maintains contact of the follower onarm 196 against the cam.

What is claimed is:

1. In an article transfer device, fixed stops on the de vice, a pair ofarticle grasping jaws, means mounting the jaws for movement toward andfrom each other comprising parallel oppositely movable bars havingclosely spaced faces, opposed support means for the jaws mounted on saidbars at right angles thereto, said bars having cam follower rollers onthe spaced faces, a cam bar movable in between the rollers for spreadingthem apart, resilient means urging the cam bar to non-roller engagingposition, a motor for actuating the cam bar to roller spreadingposition, and spring means, one for each bar, nesting in the bars andacting on the bars and against said fixed stops to move the rollersagainst the cam bar and to urge the jaws to article engaging position.

2. Means for transferring an article from one location i to a secondlocation laterally displaced therefrom and of a cathode sleeve and movedownwardly with the sleeve to locate the sleeve exactly in the opening38 of the mica, when the jaws 46, 50 bring a sleeve over and above themica and move the sleeve downwardly.

The finger 160 is affixed to an arched member 168 in turn connected to abar 170, while the finger 162 is afiixed to a bar 172. The arched barallows for indexing movement of sleeve loaded micas. The bars arerecipro cated in opposite directions to engage a sleeve, or to releasethe sleeve. The bars are urged to sleeve engaging position, see Fig. 3,by springs 174 each reacting between an oscillatable slide 175, as willbedescribed, and a lug 176 projecting from the respective bar. The barsare limited in their motion in slideways in the slide by stop lugs 178cooperating with recesses in the bars. To move the bars so that thefunnel sections recede from each other, there is provided a pair of camfollowers 180, one on each of the bars, these riding on oppositely inata different elevation, comprising a hollow shaft, an arm mounted on theshaft, jaws laterally movable toward and away from each other mounted bysaid arm and adapted to grasp an article therebetween, means for raisingthe shaft and permitting it to lower, shiftable support means for theshaft for enabling the shaft to be moved laterally from one positionwhereat an article is grasped by the jaws to another position whereatthe jaws Will release the article, a vertically adjustable stop rodtraversing the shaft and extending therebelow, stop blocks of differentheight on the machine below the stop rod, one each in each of thelateral positions of the shaft, means for operating the jaws, and meansfor laterally shifting the shaft.

3. Means for transferring an article from one location to a secondlaterally displaced location comprising a frame, grasping jaws and meansfor operating them, means for raising and lowering the jaws comprising alaterally displaceable and vertically reciprocatable shaft, means forvertically displacing the shaft, means for mounting the shaft forlateral displacement comprising a vertical elongated sleeve, a planarvertical back supporting the sleeve, a horizontal shiftable structureelongated in the direction of the planar back supporting the back andsliding with respect to the frame, a guideway at the upper end of theback parallel to the elongated structure, a rail on the frame engaged bythe guideway, and means for shifting the back to secure lateral movementof the shaft and jaws.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,352,632 Heyman July 4, 1944 2,634,979 Schon Apr. 14, 1953 2,643,440Flaws et al. June 30, 1953 2,721,373 Midgley et a1. Oct. 25, 19552,832,478 MaleWicz Apr. 29, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 674,494 Great BritainJune 25, 1952

